Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Twas the day before Christmas and the is coffee brewing.

The presents are wrapped and under the tree.

Our new neighbor, an osprey, is singing his song,

I love Christmastime, but dang…. another year is almost GONE!!!

Merry Christmas !

This year we spent Thanksgiving day at the beach.  We drove to Mexico beach, about 60 miles from here and enjoyed a Thanksgiving buffet at a restaurant called "Toucan's".  After dinner we walked on the beach, picked up shells and just soaked up the sun.

The next couple of days were spent decorating our area for Christmas.  We had purchased one of those blow ups, ours is a little RV.   Along with Bill's knack for holiday illumination, we have the best looking space in the area.  A few others have put up a string or two of lights but that is it!  

The first week of December we drove over to St Augustine, FL.  It was founded in 1565 and is "the oldest continuously occupied settlement of European and Afro-American origin in the United States".  The Castillo de San Marcos, now a National Monument,  was built to protect Spanish interests in the area.  Despite that the fact that the town itself was burned to the ground more than once, the castillo was never defeated in battle .

They deck the town in lights for the month of December.  We went to their Christmas parades, did a trolley tour, retoured the city in the trolley singing carols, went on a ghost tour, visited the Castillo when they fired the canon, did some wine tasting and walked every street.  We spent 3 days exploring.  

Bill lived in Spain a number of years and really hoped to find a restaurant that served paella.  The first night there we discovered the "Columbia", owned by the same family since 1905.  Bill got paella AND sangria!!!!  

The next morning was the Christmas parade.  I love parades and it is always fun to see the differences in the areas.  This time we saw Rudolfodillo (an armadillo with a red nose), Spanish colonial soldiers, pirates, horse riders, a live alligator and US Customs and Border Protection trucks.  Quite a mix.

ORB

ORB in right corner

Our ghost tour was fun but without any ghostly emanations.  We did get photos with "orbs" and while scientific types will tell you that it is just illuminated dust, we still wonder..........

One thing that has really surprised me about Florida is the number of horse ranches.  They are all over.  I don't remember seeing this many anywhere else. 

We then traveled to Mayport NAS, FL,  it only a short distance north of St Augustine.  We stayed at the Naval Lodge for 2 days.  It is a fantastic spot.  Right on the ocean just outside the mouth of the St John's River, we sat on our balcony and watched fishing boats, container ships and naval ships come and go all day long.  It was perfect.  

Returning to Niceville, we spent our days finishing our Christmas shopping.  

Last week we spent 3 nights in Biloxi, MS at the Beau Rivage casino.  The casino was all decorated for the holidays.  Our room was on the 23rd floor with a view of the Gulf of Mexico.  Another perfect spot.  I have to say we have been really lucky with our views.  

Tonight is a candlelight service and tomorrow we get to open our presents!!

Next week we have to move the motor home to a new spot.  Our reservations which were to extend to March only got made through December.  Luckily there is another spot ( why we can't just stay in this spot I do not know ) but it is not as nice as this one.  It will work nicely nonetheless.  

So as I spring to the shower, to Bill I give a whistle

Lets get in the convertible and fly down the road

There is sand to be walked in and sunshine we are missing

But as we drive out of sight...........

We wish you all very Merry Christmas and a great New Year!!!!

Love

Bill and Cathy

Moving forward.................

In October we drove over to Joplin, MO to see the damage done by the tornado in May 2011.  Nothing could have prepared us for the devastation.  Even now, 5 months later, the damage is overwhelming.   A lot of the homes and buildings have been leveled but the schools and the hospital remain ...  from the street we could see bulletin boards in the school with notes on them... but windows blown out.  The hospital has a temporary ER that looks like a giant tent.  We saw a number of temporary shelters being used by businesses.  It will be a long time before this town is back on its feet.  We left there counting our blessings and sending up a prayer for the residents.

We leave OK with no leveling system but with the promise from Dave and Sue that they will meet us in Florida in February!!!!

We spent 2 weeks in Austin, visiting with Emma, Aaron and my new granddaughter.. a chihuahua named Louisa.  She was lucky enough to be adopted into this family and she knows it.  While we were there we made a trip to the Hill Country.  We took the President Johnson ranch tour and enjoyed it immensely.  On our way back we drove through Luchenback, TX.  It is a post office and a bar....  but fun to see.   Since we were there so close to Halloween; Em and Aaron took us to a pumpkin patch farm.  We got to ride in their new Honda Civic, really nice.  It turned out that this farm had lots of animals to feed and visit, right up our alley.  This particular farm has Jersey dairy cattle and Blue Bell Ice Cream uses them for their advertising.

After leaving Austin we drove across Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, and most of that was on raised roadways over bays and bayous.  Fascinating really.  We wanted to spend a night in New Orleans but were unable to find an RV park.  Our New Orleans adventure will have to wait a while.  We were amazed at all the trees all along the panhandle.  Now we understand why it is call the Emerald Coast.


We are now calling the Maxwell-Gunther Recreation Area home.  This is located in Niceville, Florida.  It is actually part of the Elgin Air Force base on the Choctawhatchee Bay.  We are right across the bay from Destin, Florida and close to about 4 military bases.  Elgin Air Force base is the closest.

Exploring the gulf coast is our new pastime.  The Gulf Islands National Seashore is our personal favorite.  White sand beaches and no one around.  Evidently this is the off season for this area, to which we say PERFECT.  The weather is cool nights and highs in the 60-75 range.  This is summer temps in WA, so we love it.  The only downside has been the biting bugs.  Not mosquitoes but some other little varmints, luckily any breeze moves them right along.

We did manage to get our leveling system fixed in Florida, however our extended warranty would not cover the cost because they now say that the Oklahoma repairs were faulty and the cause of our problem.  In the meantime, we are now out more $$$$$$$.  We have complained to everyone involved but no one is willing to help with the cost.  GRRRRRRR  The only option we have is small claim court in Oklahoma.  We will see............

The weekend after Veterans Day was the Blue Angels homecoming, held at the Pensacola Naval Station.  It was a day of roaring jets, aerobatics, sky writers, and lots of one of a kind aircraft.  The show started at 9AM ending at 8PM.  At 2PM the Blue Angels did their performance, but there were lots of other fascinating performances.  We spent the day looking up til our necks ached but loved every minute of it.  The finale was a fireworks display and the "Wall of Fire".  The air show is an annual event and the locals were there to cheer them on.

We have been exploring the Gulf Coast and have been as far west as Alabama Gulf Shores and as far east as St. Joseph Peninsula State Park.  And we look forward to revisiting many of these places. 

We have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving and want to send all of you our best wishes for a great holiday.

Love to all

Bill and Cathy

Its beginning to feel a lot like fall

Yes we are finally back on the road.  Once again we have changed rigs and toys.  After living in the 5th Wheel toy hauler for a year the decision to move to a roomier Class A Bounder was easy.  What wasn't so easy was giving up the toy.  We looked at all the possible towing configurations available and finally decided to just trade in the Can Am for a small Mercedes hard top convertible.  It has about as much trunk space as the Can Am but I can sleep easier in it. 

We left Anacortes on Aug 27 and headed straight to Las Vegas and 120 degree heat.  Our first night out was spent at the Wal-Mart in Ontario, OR and the second night at a rest stop in Utah.  Driving through Boise was amazing.  Four or five lanes of freeway and no one on it.  Amazing...  Salt Lake City was another story.. construction, construction, narrow lanes and lots of traffic.  We were thankful that it was Sunday and not a work day....

Just before we got to Las Vegas our engine flashed the check engine light, but it went right out again.
 
When we arrived at Desert Eagle RV Park (Nellis AFB) in Las Vegas, our thermometer read 120 degrees.... now the thermometer might not be totally accurate but it was dang close.  When Bill unloaded the car from the trailer, the metal was almost too hot to handle.  We hooked up the motor home to water, electric and sewer; took a much needed shower and headed to the strip.

We had comp points left over from our trip to Las Vegas in May, so we used them to pay for 4 nights at the MGM hotel, most of our meals and a David Copperfield show.  It worked out perfectly.

Bill had a scare with his eyes so we went to the hospital at Nellis AFB.  He saw flashes of bright light which can be a sign of retina detachment, luckily this was not the case, but hearing that the issue is age related was frustrating.  The hospital is very nice and right by the RV park.

On our way to Bartlesville, OK,  we wanted to stop at the Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo, TX.  This place has been on a number of TV cooking shows, but they are most famous for offering the 72 ounce steak challenge.  If you can eat it in a hour or less..... it's free!!  The record, I believe, is 8 minutes 52 seconds.   An NO we did not attempt it, but Bill did get his dinner free.  Actually he had the worst steak ever...gristle, fat and very little meat.  Mine, however, was very good! 

And the "check engine" light came on and went off again just as we arrived in Amarillo.  According to the manuals, we have a library of them, this is a sign that some fluid levels are low... Bill checked and all the fluids are just fine.

Our friends. Dave and Sue, from Bartlesville, OK  hold an annual 911 Remembrance camp out that we wanted to attend.  The camp out group is a Gold Wing riders club, so everyone had their motor cycles.  We spent 5 nights at Ten Killer State Park in OK, meeting their friends and having a wonderful time.  We had a couple of evenings with no plans, so Bill put the big TV outside, hooked up the Blu Ray and we all watched movies.  We had popcorn and candy.. just like a drive in.  The first evening we watched "RV" and the second night was a double feature... "The Great Outdoors" and "Wild Hogs".

The highlight of the weekend was the 911 Remembrance ceremony.  I had heard about the ceremony and how moving it was, but I was still unprepared.  Usually they have a fire and retire flags as part of the ceremony, but this year OK was under a state wide burn ban. so no fire.  The ceremony started at sundown.  This year, each of us received pieces of paper with the name of an OK serviceman or woman who lost their lives since 9/11 in the line of duty.  Dave said the first time they did this they had 68 names ... this time we had 133.  Along with the name we received a piece of a retired flag.  As part of the ceremony, each of us read the name of the serviceman or woman, date of death, then the paper with name together with the piece of flag were placed in a grill, where there was a small fire to burn the items.  Together with the music, a symbolic 21 gun salute (with the headlights from the motorcycles), and prayer, this was an extremely moving evening.

From Ten Killer we took the motor home to Freightliner in Tulsa to have that "check engine" examined.  Two days and $$$$$ later we were back in Bartlesville.  We were there one night and we decided to switch campsites for one that had a bit more lawn.  So bright and early we attempted to move............. our leveling system would not retract.  The remainder of the day was filled with colorful language.  The next trip in our motor home was to Bell's Camper Sales for repairs.  Of course this took two visits to Bell's and still no resolution.  We were to live without a leveling system until November.

Hedge apple.... who knew???

Despite the lack of levelers we had a fantastic time in OK.  We drove the into Kansas for a trip to the place where Laura Ingalls Wilder lived in 1870.  They have reconstructed a home similar the Ingalls, There is a school and a post office there, as well.   I saw my first "hedge apple" there too!  This little spot is in the middle of nowhere, but it is well taken care of and well visited, definitely worth a visit.

 Bill had his eyes checked again in Tulsa and all is well.  He will have to live with some big floaters for a time but no damage was found.  GOOD NEWS!!!!!!

We went to Dewey, OK for their Western Heritage Weekend.  Just a short drive from Bartlesville, it is a surprising little town.  It has the Tom Mix museum, a great old hotel (we took the tour) and a fascinating history.  On Saturday we saw the parade which ended with a small herd of long horns being driven down the street by cowboys... and gals.  I love to see long horns but that was a bit too close for me.  Only one rider between me and those horns made me back wayyyyy up.  On Sunday we went to the Wild West Show which was held in "Prairie Song Pioneer Village" (http://www.prairiesong.net.) Again I was amazed, this a recreated 1800's town with the buildings being designed and built by Kenneth Tate, with Marilyn Moore-Tate filled the buildings with antiques.  It was a surprise find out here in the prairie.

Dave and Sue did another 911 ceremony in Red Rock Canyon State Park in Hinton, OK.  Each ceremony is unique.  At Red Rock, Dave has help from the local VFW.  We left our RV in Bartlesville, and stayed with Dave and Sue in their 5th Wheel.  It was a great weekend, beautiful scenery and an another inspiring ceremony.

Instead of heading straight back to Bartlesville, we headed north to Lindsborg, KS.  The road we traveled follows the old Chisholm trail.  All those old cowboy movies I watched as a kid has served me well.  There were great sculptures along the way and the terminus, was a town filled with history.  Lindsborg, however, is a Swedish themed town.  It was fun to see all the Dala horses decorated throughout the town.  AND there was at least 4 restaurants that offered Swedish pancakes.  Definitely a find in my book.  We stayed at a small motel in town that was not the best.  We half jokingly looked for bed bugs and when Bill lifted the mattress.... we found some XXXXXX rated reading material between the mattress and the box spring.  Now that was creepy.  After one night there we were more than ready to leave.

 Love to all....  Bill and Cathy

9, 8, 7...... The countdown begins in earnest..........

Our time in Yellowstone is rapidly drawing to a close.  The general store is boarded up, the post office is closed, our propane station has one more day to go and the visitors center (the rangers) closes on the 30th.  But we still remain.  Why they would allow the campground to remain open when all the support services are gone is beyond me.  Starting tomorrow we will be closing some of our camping loops so we can gradually cut off campers.

Our grizzly has returned in earnest, as well.  I guess he wants his home back and can tell when things slow down.  We have been waking up to elk bugling lately.  One of the bull elk chased some campers the other day and even forced one of the camp hosts to back up his car.  In the spring the cows are super aggressive and now the bulls are having their turn.   Hormones in action..........

We have been trying to get in all the road trips we wanted to take while here.  A couple of weeks ago we went through the Lamar Valley and then did the Beartooth Pass.  It passes through the Beartooth Corridor, which has 20 peaks of 12,000 foot elevation or more.  The road is the highest in Wyoming at 10.947 and Montana at 10,350 and it is the highest elevation road in the North Rockies.  It has its own web site http://www.beartoothhighway.com/    That us where all my statistics came from..... I wouldn't want anyone to think I remember things like that.  It is a popular drive for motorcyclists and we had hoped to take ours, but the cold weather hit too soon, so we took the pickup.

On first day of our last weekend we drove south through the Tetons to Jackson for lunch.  WOW the fall colors were amazing.  There are aspens all through that area and they are in full fall dress.  They are just yellow and when the sun shines they are fluorescent.  There are lots of vine maple and others,  which I can't name, but it was spectacular.  Originally we had been debating which way to head, I am glad we headed south.

On the 2nd day we headed north.  I wanted to go through the Lamar Valley one more time.  The previous time we had seen a wolf, so I had hoped to see more wildlife.  We saw the usual elk and buffalo, but this time we did see some pronghorn antelope.  Dunraven Pass, part of the Yellowstone Loop road, was closed at the time because of a new fire in the Park, so we decided to take Chief Joseph Highway to Cody.

The Chief Joseph Highway is a road that goes through Cooke City but cuts off before you hit the Beartooth.  It appeared to be a short cut to Cody.  This road follows the route of Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce as they tried to escape to Canada.  Most of the road is open range so watching for cattle was our prime objective.  Why do they always want the grass right on the edge of the road when there is 1,000's of acres available?  This highway was a great deal more challenging than originally thought.  I was not a short cut by any means.  It was high with steep switchbacks (my personal favorite) and while we were on our way to the summit the clouds rolled in and temperatures dropped.  So we were driving in white fog and watching the temperature gauge drop to 34.  Our main concern was ice.  In one way the fog was a gift since it prevented me from seeing just how steep the drop off was at the edge of the road..... and why is it always on MY side.   My hands get sweaty just thinking about it.

When I started this posting we were 9 days from leaving, now as I finish it we are only 4 days away.  I have two more shifts, Bill has one and everyone works a half day on Sunday.  The campground manager is hosting a breakfast and an evening hot dog roast on Sunday.  Monday morning we turn our uniforms and IDs and then we are free to leave.  Everyone is busy cleaning RVs, trucks and reorganizing so they can head out first thing Monday.  Our weather has been perfect...now that our summer is almost over....75 during the day and in the 30's at night.

Some of the folks are heading back to their houses, others are moving on to other working positions.  The couple living in a 5th wheel next to us have accepted jobs at a campground in San Jose.  I had no idea San Jose even had a campground.  We have couples heading to Arkansas, North Carolina, Florida, California, Arizona, even Michigan.  We have met some great folks from all over the US.

So, now we head back to Washington for vehicle, 5th Wheel and personal (doctors and dentists) maintenance.  After that our plan is to look toward warmer climates...... but the one good thing about this life is that we are home wherever we are............

The last photo shows the posts that have been installed along side all of the roads here in Yellowstone.  It is to help the snow plow drivers know where the edge of the road is located.  Check out the height of these poles, that will give you some idea of the expected snow level..... 

WHERE'S THE EXIT!!!!!!

Hope all is well with everyone and maybe we will be able to visit with some of you soon!!!!!!

Love to all  

Bill and Cathy